Great Honor to Play Iran Beach Soccer, Japan Coach Says

Tasnim14 Mar 2019, 06:36 GMT+10

TEHRAN (Tasnim) Japan beach soccer head coach Ruy Ramos says to play Iran as the leader in Asia is a great honor for his team. - Sports news - Japan will face Iran in the 2019 AFC Beach Soccer Championship quarterfinals underway in Thailand on Thursday.

Ramos agrees that his side is playing well, but he believes it has not yet reached the level required to beat Asia's best teams.

'Our target is the same as other teams - to be the champions,' Ramos declared.

'We should be happy with our past three wins, but I'm also not satisfied with the performance of the players, and they should be better from now,' he added.

Japan could be forgiven for feeling a touch unfortunate to have landed next to the world's number two side at this stage of the competition, but former Japanese football international Ramos is approaching the match with optimism.

'It's a great honor to be playing against the leader in Asia, Iran. In the past 7 to 10 years they have been leading Asian beach soccer,' he said. 'As you saw, the game between Iran and Oman was a brilliant game; one of the top games.

'Coming to this stage of the tournament, we cannot choose our opponent, but we will do our best,' Ramos stated.